Freewheel reports that online video ad views grew 35% in the last year, twice the previous year’s growth rate. Some of the acceleration can be explained by tentpole sports events like the Olympics and World Cup. However, the growth of direct-to-consumer ad-supported services is having a significant effect.

The Roku Channel is driving $60 million in revenue a quarter and has become the 5th most popular channels on Roku in just one year. Pluto TV boasts 10 million monthly active users, and Xumo has 3.5 million. New ad-supported from Dreams and CuriosityStream and others are adding to the mix.

The idea that programmatic completely removes the need for human interaction is a myth according to Will. While listening to a SpotX sponsored panel discussion, he heard comments from people across the ad ecosystem say how important collaboration was in creating success.

One great example of the collaboration between advertisers and content creator can be found in CuriosityStream’s service. The company is collaborating with Sprint and Toyota to bring quality branded content for free to viewers.

Chapter 3: On the balance between targeting, ad loads, and revenue (14:50)

We discuss the “fuzzy math” that says you can reduce ad loads and keep revenue the same by delivering more targeted ads that are worth more.

Chapter 4: Exploring the opportunity for ad-supported viewing (17:40)

SVOD viewing is very engaged viewing but only accounts for a half or else of typical video consumption. There is a tremendous opportunity for ad-supported video to fill the more casual viewing time.